A House of Sand and Fog

Last summer, as the Sandstorm mistakenly dubbed the “Arab Spring” swept across North Africa, a cadre of professional revolutionaries the Empire created in Serbia bragged about their role in the revolts to some European videographers. Sure, the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt may have begun spontaneously, but Empire-trained activists soon took control and channeled the rage into “regime change.” It’s what they get paid for.

Staging revolts and coups to replace foreign governments with more pliable ones is nothing new; only the techniques have changed, with “democracy activists” replacing Agency assets as the executors. But with the acceleration of information dispersal in the digital age came the shortening of the blowback window as well. It took twenty-six years for Persian resentment at the 1953 ousting of Mossadegh to manifest itself as Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution. Now mere months are enough.

“The Cairo 19”

Last week, the military government in Cairo – caretakers of the country until the Muslim Brotherhood takes over – arrested some forty-odd “democracy activists,” including 19 Americans. Reactions in Washington ranged from shock to outrage: how dare these foreigners touch the sacred missionaries of Democracy? Sure, these young people get paid big money by the unwitting American taxpayers, to foment unrest and subvert governments the world over, but isn’t that the prerogative of Empire? Isn’t it, like, oppressive and stuff, to prevent Serbian sellouts and sons of American government officials to earn their own private islands?

Even though foreign activism in the electoral process is strictly illegal in America itself, the rest of the world objecting to America interfering in their elections is just, well, “illiberal”! That’s what passes for logic in the Empire these days.

Furthermore, the revolution business is booming, quickly becoming the Empire’s major export. Granted, successful businesses are supposed to bring in profit, and the coups around the world are only sowing anti-American resentment – but what’s logic got to do with the thrill of fame and power?

Julija Belej Bakovic, described by the Washington Post as a “former student activist in Serbia”, now heads a regional office of the International Republican Institute (IRI) for Asia. She still believes what happened in Serbia is a “light at the end of the tunnel” for people everywhere. It certainly worked out well for her: she parlayed her “activism” into a well-paid international career. Most of her colleagues are lucky if they have jobs at all, in the “democratic” Serbia turned into a corrupt hellhole by Julija’s revolution that wasn’t.

It brings to mind a saying from Serbia, “What a wise man is ashamed of, the fool parades with pride.”

By The Numbers

Bolstered by the alleged success of the “Arab Spring,” the Empire set its crosshairs on Moscow. In December last year, “activists” began organizing protest marches and claiming that elections for the Russian federal legislature were stolen. This is a trope right out of the handbook, by the way – and easily disproved by doing actual math and statistics.

While shaken initially, the government of Vladimir Putin has rallied and charged the demonstrators with being foreign mercenaries. Trite but true, the charge resonated in a country stripped to the bone in the 1990s by a quisling regime beholden to the Empire. Nor does it help the Empire’s cause that Russians remember all too well the 2004 “Orange Revolution” in nearby Ukraine.

On February 4, as Empire’s activists rallied in freezing weather at Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square, a much larger crowd gathered to support the government at Poklonnaya Hill. The Western media promptly lied about the size of the demonstrations, but in Russia the difference was clear to anyone with eyes to see: the pro-government demonstrators vastly outnumbered the astroturfers. According to some observers, this may have taken the wind out of the revolutionaries’ sails, at least for now.

The Road to Damascus

Last weekend, Russia and China vetoed a resolution at the UN Security Council that would have backed “regime change” in Syria. Imperial officials predictably denounced this as a “travesty.” But was it?

Back in March 2011, both countries agreed to a resolution (UNSCR 1973) authorizing the no-fly zone over Libya, allegedly to protect innocent civilians. Supposedly, these civilians – or rather, the armed rebellion in Cyrenaica – were threatened by the Libyan air force. Within hours, the resolution became a fig leaf for a massive air campaign and special forces intervention on behalf of an Empire-backed rebellion. The Emperor argued it wasn’t a war but a “kinetic military action.” Is there another kind?

In Libya, the Bosnia scenario played out in fast-forward. Something similar began taking shape in Syria. However, a designated propaganda star of the Syrian revolt was exposed as a hoax early on, while the Libyan expedition took much longer than expected. For a while it seemed the Empire’s next target might be Iran, but currently the war drumline is beating a march to Damascus.

Empire’s moral outrage at Russia and China is hypocrisy at its finest. The warmongers in Washington and London are already bringing up Bosnia and Kosovo – two celebrated “successful” interventions that were nothing of the sort. There is definitely a pattern of aggression at work, but its source is not Assad.

Faced with a belligerent American Empire prone to attacking other countries with flimsy justification (or none at all), conducting drone wars worldwide, and organizing Astroturf revolutions in countries it finds too difficult to invade, it is honestly a miracle that Moscow and Beijing have waited this long.

Trouble in Paradise

Odds are the Chinese and Russian governments hardly think that a UN veto would keep the Empire in check; after all, lack of UN authorization didn’t stop the 1999 Kosovo War, or the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A Russian Navy task force anchored in Syria, however, just might.

Simply put, it is no longer 1999. Actions have consequences, and the Empire has lied, stolen, killed and cheated enough over the past two decades for the rest of the world to take notice and take action. Worst of all, the Imperial officials are actually convinced their actions have created a favorable reality on the ground – where in actuality, they’ve build a house of sand and fog that’s already falling apart.

Last April, the Maldives government – which came to power thanks to the efforts of professional revolutionaries – rewarded the activists with their very own tropical island. But that government is collapsing now, while angry mobs of militant Muslims destroy priceless statues in the museums. An AFP report from the islands includes this aside: “Islam is the official religion of the Maldives and open practice of any other religion is forbidden and liable to prosecution.”

Author: Nebojsa Malic

Nebojsa Malic left his home in Bosnia after the Dayton Accords and currently resides in the United States. During the Bosnian War he had exposure to diplomatic and media affairs in Sarajevo. As a historian who specializes in international relations and the Balkans, Malic has written numerous essays on the Kosovo War, Bosnia, and Serbian politics. His exclusive column for Antiwar.com debuted in November 2000.

Freedom is for those who who helped foment and the government officials, everyone else is still a slave, that is how it works, the oppressed is anyone not in with the government. They only replace one government with another and the people are still oppressed. It's funny how freedom works for different people-when yours is in power,,,you are free, until they are not…

maidhc

Kudos to Mr. Malic. A lone voice at Antiwar.com exposing Regime Change, Inc.'s role in blowing up the Sandstorm mistakenly dubbed the “Arab Spring.”

Honza

The record of the last twenty or so years with respect to the so-called democratic crusade or offensive should be more than enough to help us understand better what's actually going on. For one, the so-called Arab Spring, including the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, is actually dismantling the last vestiges of secularism in the Arab and Muslim word. In a way, it makes sense for secularism itself is now a dirty word in the Empire's homeland. More and more,, it is clear that "democracy" is just a Machiavellian facade ("the Prince should profess humanity, faith, religion … [add democracy]… without actually caring about these qualities"). We are not getting more democracy, but more of a police state and military, militaristic, and militarized regimes the theoretical princes and shock-troopers of which are more and more displaying the true colors and symbols–the very antithesis of democracy and freedom. In a word, these campaigns, once the smoke and the :coloring" (Havel's favorite expression) are removed, show that, instead of making the world safer for democracy, they are making it safer for fascism to come back.

Serbophobe

The recent developments are clearly proving that Serbs are no "little Russians", a thesis some people who all too keen on sweeping generalizations like to propound. Russia has her Putin, who is unshakable in his authority. Whereas Serbs have their Tadic and no local Putin on the electoral horizon. Quite different mentalities. Serbs want to be part of Europe and its consumerist paradise. Most of them.

balkan eagle

The Serbs can not be"little Russians" because nobody is watching their back …like the separatist true former Yugoslavia who have their support by the imperialists.

MichaelKenny

Right on schedule! Every two weeks, stir the pot! The relevance of Serbia to all of this is contrived and unconvincing.

Guest

lol why do you read it and comment on his columns if you hate him and Serbia so much? Is it because Nebojsa writes the truth?

MvGuy

&&&&&&&&& EVERY WEEK WE HAVE MichaelKenny ·***** WHINING….!@!!!!! No disputation of the facts, or the conclusions drawn, no citations that conflict what Mr. Malic purports, or a single correction, sourced or not, NO!!!!! Just the incessant squeal of his weekly weakly whine….. Michael Kenny….. WHY…. Your posts in other venues have been top notch and incisive!! What is it about Nabojsa Malic that turns your retorts to mush…??? WTF Michael..!!! Stop complaining and give US some substance here, not week after week of "Every two weeks, stir the pot"!!!

Are you going for a record number of thumbs down…??? Come-on Michael….. You CAN and have in the past done better…….. Far better…..

Kathryn

I am a Serbian and I come on here to see what a fellow Serb has to say. Every time I come on low and behold you are here with some remark. Do you have a job?Isn't there something you have to do?

andy

A Kosovar just shot and killed two US servicemen in Germany. That's the thanks America gets for its foolish intervention.

Aleksandar

I find this newspeak wordplay fascinating. When NATO bombed Yugoslavia, there were Albanians being oppressed by the Serbs in Kosovo. Now, when something happens to the liberators by the hand of the same people, they are dubbed Kosovars. Further research along these lines brings forth all kinds of absurdities going on in the Balkans.

Bianca

There is more then wordplay at work here. Liberators were never liberators, as they delivered Albanian population of Kosovo into the hands of well known crime families. The Empire must, however, maintain the official narrative. Kosovo and Bosnia were "good" and "humanitarian" interventions. Reality, however, is different, fashionably modern image of the "president" notwithstanding. A toxic cloud of ghastly crimes hangs over Kosovo, and will not lift until the victims get the voice. In the fog of "liberation", Albanians that were unwilling to accept the "leadership" of crime families, were killed. Serbs and others disappeared in organ harvesting slaughterhouses. No matter how many times the crimes of the ruling families of Kosovo have been brought up — including by EU — they are always hushed up, silenced by corporate media that WILL NOT allow such "negative" stories to disturb the wonderfull fairy tale that is Kosovo.
And it hardly matters to Empire who is in charge, for as long as they can control the population. Dictatorships, crime families, crime gangs, and absolute monarchies are the best. No fuss, no mess.

Suvorov

Well, is there anyone here who wouldn't have bet everything they had the day prior to these demonstrations that the next day most Western media would "mix up" images of Bolotnaya and Poklonnaya. However, Dr. Goebbels has formulated their problem quite well:

"Propaganda becomes ineffective the moment we are aware of it."

Regarding Russia, I can only add that the newly Anointed One, Alexei Navalny has been awarded a grant to participate in the Yale University's "World Fellows Program", the purpose of which is to groom "democratic leaders".